sidereal year

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a division of time equal to the equinoctial year plus 20 minutes, representing the time required for the earth to complete one revolution around the sun, measured with relation to the fixed stars.

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sidereal year British  

noun

1. See year

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Etymology

Origin of sidereal year

First recorded in 1675–85

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sidereal year

The Egyptian year was a year of 365 days, and therefore vague as regarded the sidereal year.

From Egyptian Literature Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings by Epiphanius Wilson

The early Babylonians used a sidereal year, as will be shown shortly.

From The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture by E. Walter (Edward Walter) Maunder

Their observations led them to discover the length, very nearly, of the sidereal year, which they made to consist of 365 days, every fourth year adding one day, making the number for that year 366.

From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Philip Van Ness Myers

"In the year 1779 Lexell's comet approached so near to the earth that it would have increased the length of the sidereal year by three hours if its mass had been equal to the earth's."

From Ragnarok : the Age of Fire and Gravel by Ignatius Donnelly

By comparing two successive years they could of course have got at a sidereal year; but this is what they did not do; hence the irregularity which produced the canicular cycle.

From Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville by Mary Somerville

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